A confederacy is a group of people who join together to help each other.

Who were the Hodenosaunee?

Hodenosaunee, meaning “People of the Longhouse,” is the name that the Iroquois traditionally used to refer to themselves.

The Iroquois believed that their confederacy was like a longhouse. Just as several families dwelled in harmony side by side in the same longhouse, the Iroquois lived peacefully in adjoining nations within the same realm.

What are the three sisters and why were they important to the Iroquois?

The three sisters were...

corn

beans

squash

They were important because they were the main source (crops) of the Iroquois.

What is a clan?

A clan is a group of Native American families who share the same ancestor.

What is a clan mother?

A clan mother is the head of the clan.

What is a council?

A council is a group of people who meet to talk and make decisions.

What is a Sachem?

A Sachem is a council member of the Iroquois Confederacy.

What is an artifact?

An artifact is an object made by people in the past.

What is an archeologist?

An archeologist is a scientist who studies artifacts to learn about the past.

What are ancestors?

Ancestors are the people in your family that lived long ago.

What is prehistory?

Prehistory is the period of time before people left written records.

What are hunter-gatherers?

Hunter-gatherers are people that both hunted and gathered food like nuts, berries, plants, etc.

Define heritage.

Heritage is the history, beliefs, and customs that a group of people share.

What is a longhouse?

A longhouse is a wooden building that housed many families.

Up to 20 families lived in a longhouse.

Some longhouses were up to 36 feet wide and 200 feet long.

Longhouses were made out of wooden poles and branches. They were covered with sheets of bark and had a smoke hole in the roof to allow for smoke from the cooking fire to escape.

Who were the first people to North America?

The first people who came to North America were hunters who came from Asia.

What is a land bridge? Why is it important?

A land bridge is ice that connected Asia to North America.

It is important because Asian hunters migrated following the animals they were hunting and eventually ended up in what is now New York.

What did early people do to find food?

Early people moved from place to place in search of food. They would often camp on top of hills so they could look down and watch for animals.

What do archeologists use artifacts for?

Archeologists use artifacts to find out what life was like in the past.

What happened to many animals at the end of the Ice Age?

At the end of the Ice Age, many animals died out. Hunter-gatherers learned new ways to get food and provide shelter.

How did early New Yorkers get food?

Early New Yorkers got food by hunting animals and gathering fruit, plants, and nuts. More than 1,000 years ago, early New Yorkers started farming.

What changes did farming bring about?

Farming brought many changes... it meant people could stay in one area rather than move from place to place.

What jobs did the Eastern Woodland Indian women and girls have within the tribe?

The Eastern Woodland Indian women and girls planted, cared for, and planted crops. Corn, beans, and squash (the three sisters).

Girls learned to cook, make pottery, and make clothing mostly of deerskin.

Women were Clan Mothers. They picked the Sachem for the tribe.

What jobs did men and boys in the Eastern Woodland tribe have to do?

Eastern Woodland men and boys fished, hunted, traded, made canoes, and cleared the fields for planting.

Boys learned to shoot a bow and arrow, and to build traps for bear, deer, turkey, rabbits, and other animals.

Men were Sachem of the tribe.

Name two major Native American groups in New York.

The Algonkian and the Iroquois were two major Native American groups in New York.

Groups were created based on languages spoken. Mahican, Shinnecock, and Lenni Lenape are called Algonkian groups because they all spoke an Algonkian language.

How did indian children learn about their past and their environment?

Indian children learned about their ancestors, animals, and the environment where they live from storytellers.

Deganawida was a 1500's leader of the Iroquois who helped organize the Iroquois Confederacy.

What is wampum?

Wampum were polished beads made from shells used in ceremonies by Iroquois and other Native Americans. The beads were sewn onto deerskin belts in special designs. The designs were sometimes used to record information.

Wampum was also given as a gift, or used in exchange for furs (trading).

What is a sachem?

Sachem were members of the Grand Council.

Only men could be sachems, and only women could choose them. Each group had more than one sachem on the Council.

What is a clan?

A clan is a group of families who share the same ancestor.

Describe the Iroquois Confederacy...

After many years of fighting among themselves, the Iroquois and the Eastern Woodland Indians decided to stop fighting with each other. This was called The Great Peace.

During this time, The Iroquois Confederacy was formed when five Iroquois groups joined together. They were:

The Cayuga

The Mohawk

The Oneida

The Onondaga

The Seneca

The Tuscarora (Joined The Confederacy 100 years later)

The Iroquois Confederacy is a political union of six Native American groups. It was founded around 1570.

The Iroquois Confederacy became one of the most powerful groups of people in the Eastern Woodlands.

What six tribes make up the Iroquois Confederacy?

The six tribes that make up the Iroquois Confederacy are...

The Cayuga

The Mohawk

The Oneida

The Onondaga

The Seneca

The Tuscarora

How did the confederacy help the Iroquois?

The confederacy helped the Iroquois by making them stronger (together vs. separate).